External Affairs Lead - Reading, United Kingdom - Thames Water Utilites

Thames Water Utilites

Verified Company

Reading, United Kingdom

1 week ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Working at Thames Water's Strategic Resource Options combines the excitement of tackling complex water-related challenges, working with challenging stakeholders, and enjoying personal and professional growth in a collaborative and innovative environment.

Your efforts will make a meaningful impact on the future of clean drinking supplies in the South East of the UK for generations to come.

What you'll be doing as an External Affairs Lead

The role will be part of the
Thames Water Strategic Resource Option (SRO) organisation, which is responsible for the development of several projects to improve drought resilience and minimise interruptions to water supplies in the South-East whilst protecting the environment.

These projects may include a new reservoir and transfer projects between different river catchments.

The SRO projects are at an early stage in development and over time they will require their own identities. The role will establish a strategy to determine the branding necessary for the future of the projects.
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Lead a team responsible for the external affairs of the SRO projects. Working alongside the Consent lead, Engagement lead and Land Lead you will seek to gain support for the schemes and ensure their success from a consenting and commercial position.

Utilising experience from other major projects, you will be
responsible for leading the engagement plan for political and strategic stakeholders ensuring you and other senior team members can interact at the right level to influence decision making.

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Working closely with the engagement lead you will establish a way of working that segments the stakeholders at a local and national level and deploy our team effectively to ensure we are efficient in our activities.
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Responsible for leading the media (traditional and social) and communications for the SRO projects. Working closely with partners you will plan an ambitious programme of activities and campaigns seeking opportunities to gain positive coverage and reduce any risks to the project. You will identify spokespeople to represent the projects, and ensure they are briefed and prepared, this may include relevant training.
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Establish a way of working with the corporate teams to ensure collaboration and defined accountabilities

What you should bring to the role

Experience in delivering digital content and campaigns
Previous experience in a senior external affairs role, specifically political engagement
Indepth knowledge of working with a range of stakeholders and corporate teams
A successful background of leading and managing a team
Exceptional communication skills written and verbal.
Able to multitask and work flexibly to manage conflicting priorities you and your team
Ability to navigate within a political environment
Be able to travel to support project activities
Flexible and resilient to deal with project challenges

What's in it for you?
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Competitive salary up to £95k pa:

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Car Allowance:

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Annual Leave of 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (Plus bank holidays):

Contributory pension
Defined Contribution
Maximum of 12% -2x employee contribution:

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Private Health Insurance:

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Bonus:

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Personal Medical Assessments

Open to all once a year:
Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing.

Who are we?

At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life's essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive.

Water is life's great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day.

From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we're committed to taking care of it for us all.

But keeping water flowing is becoming harder. From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers.

We need to keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever.

Are you ready to play your part?

Working at Thames Water
At Thames Water, we recognise that people are at the heart of our business.

To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge.

We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, backgrounds, and differences that each individual brings.

Find out more about working at Thames Water.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you'll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers o